Kel-Tecís
New Lightweight PF-9 9mm Auto Pistol

by Jeff Quinn

photography by Jeff Quinn & Boge Quinn

May 8th, 2007

Click for video!

Kel-Tec CNC of Cocoa, Florida continues
to impress me with their innovative and very practical firearm
designs. They pretty much went from nothing just a few
short years ago to dominating the pocket auto market with their
super-light .32 ACP pistol,
and then followed up with the .380
version after that. Their double-stack 9mm and .40
caliber autos are also among the smallest and lightest
available, and their rifle designs are also as unique as
their pistols. Their recently introduced .308 bull-pup RFB
rifle, which has not gone into production yet, promises to be a
"must have", if it is as good as I think that it will
be. We will have to wait about a year to find out.

Kel-Tec is not a "ME TOO" company,
coming out with another copy of a gun that is already crowding
the market. It seems like everybody and his little sister are
introducing their own versions of the grand old 1911 or another
copy of the Colt Single Action Army, and that is fine, I
suppose. The more guns the better. However, Kel-Tec has
displayed a unique ability to read the market and then deliver
the weapon that fills that void. Their little pocket pistols are
light, small, practical, and very affordable. When Kel-Tec
introduced their little .32, it was half the weight and one
third the price of the most popular pocket .32 at that time, the
Seecamp, and it was more reliable with a variety of
ammunition.

Now, Kel-Tec is in full production of their new
slim single stack 9mm pistol. It seems to be a blend of the
design of their double-stack P-11and their little .380 pocket
gun, the P-3AT. I have been waiting somewhat patiently for over
a year for this one, limiting my calling and begging to Kel-Tec
to about once per month when possible.

Like their little pocket autos, the PF-9 is a
locked breech weapon, allowing the firearm to be as light as
possible, without having to have arms as big as tree trunks to
operate the slide. The PF-9 holds seven rounds of 9mm
Luger ammunition in its magazine, for a total loaded capacity of
eight rounds. Kel-Tec says that a limited amount of Plus P rated
ammunition can be used in the PF-9, so it is recommended that
shooters do most of their practice with standard pressure ammo,
and save the hot stuff for more serious use, firing enough of it
through their pistols to assure compatibility with that
particular gun. The slide of the PF-9 uses a bushingless design,
and the rear lockup of the barrel is in the ejection port,
making for a very tight lockup of barrel to slide, yet
permitting very good reliability. The frame of the PF-9 is made
of plastic, and has an integral short Picatinny accessory rail
at its front to attach a laser sight, flashlight, or other
device, if so desired. The grip portion of the frame is textured
for a positive grip, and works very well. The feel of the slim
grip is a great improvement over the grip feel of the P-11 to my
hand, and feels even slimmer than it is. The magazine is made of
steel with a plastic floorplate, and Kel-Tec supplies the pistol
with an extra extended floorplate that is shaped to accommodate
the little finger of the shooting hand. The trigger action
is double-action-only, and the pull is smooth and measures five
pounds, eleven ounces on my sample gun. I have handled a very
few other PF-9 pistols, and their trigger pulls seemed just as
good. The magazine release is to the rear of the trigger
guard, just as God and John Browning intended. The slide
locks open after the last shot, and the slide release is handy
for the thumb of a right-handed shooter. There is no manual
safety, but the PF-9 has an internal safety that will not allow
the weapon to fire unless the trigger is pulled. The PF-9 is a
hammer-fired design, and the hammer does not protrude from the
rear of the slide while at rest.

The sights on the PF-9 are of a very useful
design, being large enough to actually see with the human eye,
and are of the three-dot design. I would like to see tritium
night sights offered as an option, but I can surely live with
these. The rear sight is easily adjusted laterally for windage
correction, and by shimming for elevation correction. I found
them to be just fine at the factory setting for my eyes.
Stripping the Kel-Tec PF-9 is a very quick and easy operation.
Using a cartridge case rim as the only tool needed, and a strong
fingernail would serve as well. The slide, barrel, and other
critical components are made of steel, and Kel-Tec offers matte
blued, Parkerized, and hard chrome finishes. The slide has
six grooves at the rear on each side for a secure grip when
operating to chamber or unload the weapon. The PF-9 has a fixed
standing blade ejector, and a beefy extractor to insure
reliability. I like the unique design of the extractor and
its external spring. Another thing that assures
reliability is the almost straight-in feeding of the cartridge
from the magazine. The barrel has an integral feed ramp also,
but little of it is used as the cartridge goes forward into the
chamber. In the pictures, I tried to compare the size of the
PF-9 to other popular handguns to illustrate its compact size.
The slide of the PF-9 is only .881 inch at its widest point, and
the grip portion of the frame is about the same. Height
including the sights and magazine floorplate measures 4.4
inches, and the length measures just 5.84 inches. The
barrel length is 3.1 inches. Now here is the best part; the
weight of the PF-9 is only 14.6 ounces empty, including the
magazine! The PF-9 uses a double recoil spring system, and has a
plastic full-length guide rod.

Shooting the PF-9 proved to be a pleasure.
Despite its light weight, the felt recoil was less than an Airweight
.38 Special shooting Plus P ammunition in both guns. The video
shows the muzzle rise and controllability of the PF-9. I was
pleasantly surprised at the ease at which the PF-9 could be
quickly fired for repeat shots. I fired the Kel-Tec with several
different brands and types of high performance ammunition, all
of which is suitable for social work. The accuracy of all ammo
tested was acceptable, and reliability was perfect with all
ammunition tried. Velocities of the various loads are
listed in the chart below. Bullet weights are listed in grains,
and velocities in feet-per-second (fps). No handloads were
tried. DPX is a copper hollowpoint with no lead core. JHP is
jacketed hollowpoint. HP is a pre-fragmented hollowpoint.

AMMO

BULLET WEIGHT

VELOCITY

Extreme Shock EPR

115

1226

Cor-Bon Glaser Blue

80

1547

Cor-Bon JHP Plus P

115

1298

Cor-Bon PowRBall

100

1390

Cor-Bon DPX

115

1219

International Cartridge HP

100

1123

The accuracy of the PF-9 was very good for such
a small, light pistol with me doing the shooting. It was
easy to keep any and all shots in the kill-zone of a standard
human silhouette target out to twenty-five yards, but most of my
shooting of this Kel-Tec was done at seven to ten yards as
quickly as I could empty the pistol into the target, just aiming
for center-of-mass or at the head. I did not try shooting the
pistol from a rest for Bullseye groups, as the intended purpose
of this handgun is for fighting, up close, fast, and personal.

There are many who disparage the 9mm Luger
cartridge as being inadequate for social work. I am not among
them. They would have you to believe that a 9mm bullet will
bounce off of humans as if they were wearing red pantyhose and a
huge "S" on their chest. The truth is that a 9mm Luger
will penetrate as much or more than most .45 ACP ammo, and using
a good hollowpoint or other expanding design is quite effective
on flesh and bone.

There were really no huge surprises for me with
the PF-9. It offered everything that I have come to
expect from Kel-Tec. They offer quality products, and have a
very good reputation for customer service. The PF-9 was
perfectly reliable with no failures of any kind during testing.
The performance of the ammunition tested displayed higher
velocities than expected from the short barrel. The pistol is
extremely slim and light for a 9mm Luger handgun. It carries
beautifully tucked into the waistband, and just disappears in a
jeans pocket. It prints much less than does my .38 Special
J-frame S&W, is almost as light, and offers three more shots
without reloading. It is also easier to shoot well. Will
it replace the J-frame in my pocket? I donít know. I will have
to shoot it a lot more before deciding, and old habits die hard.
However, I would feel very well-armed carrying this Kel-Tec
anywhere. It is slim, light, reliable, powerful, and accurate.
It is also surprisingly affordable, listing at just $333
US at the time of this writing, and I have been receiving
reports of real-world prices being much less. The PF-9 is
a dandy pistol, and would be a great deal at twice the price.
There is nothing else quite like it, and I highly recommend it.